THE ROAD TO MODERN ENGLISH
At the end of the 16th century, about five to seven million people spoke English. 1_____________(
鍑犱箮
)all of them lived in
England.
2_____________(
涔?/p>
鍚?/p>
)
in
the
next
century,
people
from
England
made
3_____________(
鑸?/p>
娴?/p>
)
to
4_____________(
寰佹湇
)other parts of the world and 5_____________(
鍥犱负
)that, English began to 24____________(speak)
in many other countries. Today, more people speak English as their first, second or foreign language than ever before.
Native English speakers can understand each other 6_____________(
鍗充娇
)
they don鈥檛 speak the same kind of English. Look
at this example:
British Betty: Would you like to see my flat?
American Amy: Yes, I鈥檇 like to
7_____________(
涓婃潵
)to your apartment.
So why has English changed 8_________ time? 9_____________(
浜嬪疄涓?/p>
) all languages change and develop when cultures
meet and communicate with each other. At first the English spoken in En
gland between about AD 450 and 1150 was very
10_____________(
涓嶅悓
)the English 25_____(speak) today. It was11________(
鍩轰簬
) more _____ German than the English
we speak 12_____________(
鐜板湪
). Then 13_____________(
閫愭笎鐨?/p>
)between about AD 800 and 1150, English became less
like
German
because
those
who
ruled
England
spoken
first
Danish
and
later
French.
These
new
14_____________(settle)15_____________(rich)the
English
language
and
especially
its
16_____________(
璇嶆眹
).
So
by
th
e
1600鈥檚
Shakespeare
was
able
to
17_____________(
鍒╃敤
)a
26________(wide)
vocabulary
than
ever
before.
In
1620
some British settlers moved to America. Later in the 18th century some British people were taken to Australia too. English
began to be spoken in both countries.
Finally
by
the
19th
century
the
language
was
18_____________(
纭畾锛屽浐瀹?/p>
).
At
that
time
two
big
changes
in
English
spelling happened: first Samuel Johnson wrote his dictionary and later Noah Webster wrote The American Dictionary of
the English Language. The latter gave a 19_____________(
鍒嗗紑鐨?/p>
)20_____________(
韬唤
) to American English spelling.
English now is also spoken as a foreign or second language in South Asia. For example, India has a very large number of
21_____________(
娴佸埄鐨?/p>
)
English
speakers
because
Britain
ruled
India
from
1765
to
1947.
During
that
time
English
became
the
language
for
22_____________(
鏀垮簻
)and
education.
English
is
also
spoken
in
Singapore
and
Malaysia
and
countries
in
Africa
such
as
South
Africa.
Today
the
number
of
people
learning
English
in
China
is
23_____________(
澧?/p>
鍔?/p>
)rapidly. In fact, China may have the largest number of English learners. Will Chinese English develop its own identity?
Only time will tell.
1
Nearly
2
Later
3
voyages
4
conquer
5
because
of
6
even
if
7
come
up
8
over
9
Actually
10
different from
11 basedon
12 at present
13 gradually
14 settlers
15 enriched
16 vocabulary
17 make
use of
18 settled
19 separate
20 identity
21 fluent
22 government
23 increasing
24 be spoken
25 spoken
26 wider
STANDARD ENGLISH AND DIALECTS
What
is
1_____________(
鏍囧噯鐨?/p>
)English?
Is
it
spoken
in
Britain,
the
US,
Canada,
Australia,
India
and
New
Zealand?
2_____________(
淇′笉淇＄敱浣?/p>
), 3_______________________ (
娌℃湁杩欐牱鐨勪簨
)standard English. Many people believe the
English spoken on TV and the radio is standard English. This is because in the early days of radio, those who reported the
news were4_____________(
鏈熷緟
) to speak excellent English. However, on TV and the radio you will hear differences in the
way people speak.
When people use words and 5_____________(
鐭
)
different form 鈥?/p>
standard language鈥? it is called a
6_____________(
鏂?/p>
瑷�
). American English has many dialects, especially the midwestern, southern, African American and Spanish dialects. Even
in some parts of the USA, two people from neighbouring towns speak a little differently. American English has so many
dialects because people have come from all over the world.
7_____________(
鍦扮悊
)also 8_____________(
鎵紨鏌愪釜瑙掕壊
) making dialects. Some people who live in the mountains of
the eastern USA speak with an older kind of English dialect. When Americans moved from one place to another, they took
their dialects with them. So people from the mountains in the southeastern USA speak with almost the same dialect as
people in the northwestern USA. The USA is a large country in which many different dialects are spoken. Although many
Americans move a lot, they still 9_____________(
杈ㄨ鍑?/p>
)and understand each other
鈥檚 dialects.
AMY: Excuse me, Ma鈥檓a. Could you tell me where the nearest
subway is?
LADY: Er...the underground? Well, go round the corner on your left-
hand side, straight on and cross two streets. It鈥檒l be on