核心词汇英语发展进程题目版.doc

2015，8.30 日新概念听力材料：
在聆听这段材料之前，请同学们找出一张世界地图，找出现在的丹麦，挪威，瑞典，德国，英国，法国，亚洲，非洲，加勒比地区和印度等国家和地区，帮助我们了解英语的大致发展轨迹。

This is Steve Ember. And this is Shirley Griffith 1. ________ the VOA Special English program, EXPLORATIONS. Today we present the second of our two programs about the history of the English Language.

Last week, we told how the English language developed as a result of several invasions of Britain. The first 2. _________ three tribes called the Angles, the Jutes and the Saxons. A mix of their languages produced a language called Anglo-Saxon, or Old English. It sounded very much like German. Only a few words remained from the Celts who had lived in Britain.

Two more invasions added words to Old English. The Vikings (维京人)of Denmark（丹麦）, Norway（挪威） and Sweden（瑞典） arrived in Britain more than one thousand years ago. The next invasion took place in the year ten sixty-six. French forces from Normandy were led by a man known as William the Conqueror（征服者威廉）.

The Norman rulers added many words to English. The words "parliament（议会）," "jury（陪审团）," "justice," and others that deal with law come from the Norman rulers.

Over time, the different languages combined to 3. __________ what English experts call Middle English. While Middle English still sounds similar to German, it also begins to sound like Modern English.

Here Warren Scheer reads the very beginning of Geoffrey Chaucer's great poem, "The Canterbury Tales"（《坎特伯雷故事集》） as it was written in Middle English.

Chaucer wrote that poem in the late thirteen hundreds. It was written in the language of the people. The rulers of Britain at that time still spoke the Norman French they brought with them in ten sixty-six.

The kings of Britain did not speak the language of the people until the early fourteen hundreds. Slowly, Norman French was used less and less until it disappeared（请思考: 语言如果不使用或者使用的人少，会发生什么样的结果？联想到我们的日常生活，有没有类似的事情或事物也有这样的规律呢？）.

The English language was 4._______________ by an event that took place more than one thousand four hundred years ago. In the year five ninety-seven, the Roman Catholic Church began its attempt to make Christianity the religion of Britain.（请同学们进一步探索：现在的罗马天主教廷在哪里，天主教的宗教领袖称谓什么？如何从服饰和建筑风格等判断是天主教等）

The language of the Catholic Church was Latin. Latin was not spoken as a language in any country at that time. But it was still used by some people.

Latin made it possible for a church member from Rome to speak to a church member from Britain. Educated people from different countries could communicate using Latin.

Latin had a great effect on the English language. Here are a few examples. The Latin word "discus" became several words in English including "disk," "dish," and "desk." The Latin word "quietus" became the English word "quiet." Some English names of plants such as ginger and trees such as cedar come from Latin. So do some medical words such as cancer.

English is a little like a living thing that continues to grow. English began to grow more quickly when William Caxton returned to Britain in the year fourteen seventy-six. He had been in Holland and other areas of Europe where he had learned printing. He returned to Britain with the first printing press.

The printing press made it possible for almost anyone to buy a book. It helped spread education and the English language. (思考：由此可见，（科学）技术在推动语言发展的巨大作用，请同学们联想我们周围有什么技术对我们的生活带来的积极/消极作用。)

Slowly, during the fifteen hundreds English became the modern language we would 5. __________. English speakers today would be able to communicate with English speakers in the last part of the Sixteenth Century.

It was during this time period that the greatest writer in English produced his work. His name was William Shakespeare（莎士比亚）. His plays continue to be printed, acted 6. _____________, and seen in motion pictures almost four hundred years after his death.

A portrait of William Shakespeare is pictured in London, painted in 1610 and is believed to be the only surviving picture of William Shakespeare painted in his lifetime (File)

Experts say that Shakespeare's work was written to be 7. ______________, not to be read. Yet every sound of his words can produce word pictures, and provide feelings of anger, fear, and laughter. Shakespeare's famous play "Romeo and Juliet" 《罗密欧与朱丽叶》 is so sad that people cry when they see this famous story.

The story of the power Hungry King Richard the Third is another very popular play by Shakespeare. Listen as Shep O'Neal reads the beginning, of "Richard the Third."

The development of the English language 8. ______________ just nine years before the death of William Shakespeare. Three small British ships crossed the Atlantic Ocean in sixteen-o-seven. They landed in an area that would later become the southern American state of Virginia（弗吉尼亚）. They began the first of several British colonies. The name of the first small colony was Jamestown（乔治城）.

In time, people in these new colonies began to call areas of their new land by words borrowed from the native people they found living there. For example, many of the great rivers in the United States are taken from American Indian words. The Mississippi（密西西比）, the Tennessee（田纳西）, the Missouri（密苏里） are examples.

Other Native American words included "moccasin（软皮平底鞋）", the kind of shoe made of animal skin that Indians wore on their feet. This borrowing or adding of foreign words to English was a way of 9. ______________. The names of three days of the week are good examples of this. The people from Northern Europe 10. _________ three gods ______a special day each week. The gods were Odin, Thor and Freya. Odin's-day became Wednesday in English, Thor's-day became Thursday and Freya's-day became Friday.

Britain had other colonies in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and India. The English language also became part of these colonies. These colonies are now independent, but English still is one of the languages spoken.（思考：印度被称为“世界办公室”，这跟印度曾经被英国人殖民，带来的英语是否有关系呢？同学们可以网络搜索印度人讲英语的视频，了解印度英语的风格） And the English language grew as words from the native languages were added.

For example, the word "shampoo" for soap for the hair came from India. "Banana" is believed to be from Africa.

Experts cannot explain many English words. For hundreds of years, a dog was called a "hound." The word is still used but not as 11. _____________ the word "dog." Experts do not know where the word "dog" came from or when. English speakers just started using it. Other words whose 12. ___________ are unknown include "fun," "bad," and "big."

English speakers also continue to invent new words by linking old words together. A good example is the words "motor" and "hotel." Many years ago someone linked them together into the word "motel." A motel is a small hotel near a road where people travelling in cars can stay for the night.

Other words come from the first letters of names of groups or devices. A device to find objects that cannot be seen called Radio Detecting and Ranging became "Radar." The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is usually called NATO.

Experts say that English has more words that explain the same thing than any other language. For example, the words "large," "huge," "vast," "massive," and "enormous" all mean something really "big."

People often ask how many words there are in the English language. Well, no one really knows. The Oxford English Dictionary lists about six hundred fifteen thousand words. Yet the many scientific words not in the dictionary could increase the number to almost one million.

And experts are never really sure how to count English words. For example, the word "mouse." A mouse is a small creature from the rodent family. But "mouse" has another very different meaning. A "mouse" is also a 13.________ device used to help control a computer. If you are counting words do you count "mouse" two times?

Visitors to the Voice of America hear people speaking more than forty different languages. Most broadcasters at VOA come from countries where these languages are spoken. International organizations such as VOA would find it impossible to operate without a second language all the people speak.

The language that permits VOA to work is English. It is not 14. __________（请注意该词的发音）to see someone from the Mandarin Service talking to someone from the Urdu Service, both speaking English. English is becoming the common language of millions of people worldwide, helping speakers of many different languages communicate.

1. 本文中提到了维京海盗（Vikings），为便于给同学们一个直观的感受和了解，特推荐欣赏动画短片：凯尔经的秘密（The Secret of Kells），资源可以百度搜索。
2. 请同学们查询，英语中有哪些词汇是借用或吸取了中文/汉语词汇，中文中有哪些词语是借用了英语，日语或是韩语的词汇，请举几例。
3. 请同学们画一个时间轴，标注英语发展的不同阶段和大致时间。

核心词汇：
as a result: The English language developed as a result of several invasions of Britain.
invasion 入侵
UK: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Great Britain: England\Scotland\Wales
involve 包括、涉及到
tribe 部落
Anglo-Saxon----Old English
remain 留存
the Vikings of Denmanrk, Norway, Sweden
French forces 法国部队
Normandy
William the Conqueror
Jury 陪审团
Justice 公正
parliament 英国议会/ congress 美国议会

be strongly influenced 受。。。。。。很深的影响
the Roman Catholic Church 罗马天主教堂
Christianity 基督教
Latin 拉丁文
have a great effect 对。。。。。。有作用
ginger 生姜
medical terms/words 医学用语
print 打印、印刷
motion pictures
a portrait of William Shakespeare is pictured
surviving picture
take a giant/dwarf step
the Atlantic Ocean

the State of Virginia
colony 殖民地
native Americans
American Indians
borrowing words
expand
the Caribbean
the English language=English
independent 独立的
origins of the words 单词的来源、出处
invent new words=make up new words 产生新词
motor+hotel=motel, smoke+fog=smog
Radar: Radio Detecting and Ranging
NATO: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization 北大西洋公约组织
vast, massive, enormous, giant
hand-held device
count 数数
mandarin 中文