College English Creative Reading 3 跨文化交际英语·阅读教程3
Unit 9 English Words
Note on the Topic
Learning Objectives
1. Get to know the reason why English has the largest vocabulary in the world;
2. Be aware of the majority of the English lexicon of which items are high-frequency and which are not and which lexicon items may be needed for active production when writing and speaking as opposed to lexical items only needed for recognition when listening and reading; 3. Create your own compound words in the final activity.
Before You Read
1. Watch the following video and discuss the following questions with a partner.
2. Discuss the following questions with a partner.
1. In the year 400 C.E., the Celts in Britain were ruled by Romans. This
had one benefit for the Celts, what is it?
The Romans protected them from the barbarian Saxon tribes of Northern Europe.
2. How long was French the language of the British royalty?
French was the language of the British royalty for three centuries. 3. When Norman king was at English throne, society in Britain came to have two levels, what were they?
They are French-speaking aristocracy and Old English-speaking peasants.
4. As the language expanded, what did English speakers realize if they wanted to sound sophisticated? And why?
They would use words that had come from French or Latin. Because Anglo Saxon words seemed so plain like the Anglo Saxon peasants who spoke them.
5. What’s the speaker’s purpose of offering the scenes and questions at the very beginning?
She wants to tell us that whether we realize it consciously or only subconsciously, our history lives in the words we speak and hear.
Reading A
The Biggest Vocabulary in the World