THE ROAD TO MODERN ENGLISH
At the end of the 16th century, about five to seven million people spoke Englis h. Nearly all of them lived in England. Later in the next century, people from Engla nd made voyages to conquer other parts of the world and because of that, English began to be spoken in many other countries. Today, more people speak English as their first, second or foreign language than ever before. 通向現(xiàn)代英語之路 在 16 世紀(jì)末,大約有五至七百萬人講英語.幾乎所有這些講英語的人都住在英格蘭. 在其后的一個(gè)世紀(jì)中, 英格蘭人為征服世界航海到了世界其他一些地方, 結(jié)果世界的其他地 方的人們也開始說英語了.今天,把英語作為自己的第一語言、第二語言或外語來使用的人 比以往任何時(shí)候都多. Native English speakers can understand each other even if they don’t speak th e same kind of English. Look at this example: British Betty: Would you like to see my flat? American Amy: Yes, I’d like to come up to your apartment. 以英語作為母語的人,即使他們所講不是同一種英語,他們也能彼此聽懂.請(qǐng)看看這個(gè) 例子： 英國人貝蒂：來看看我的公寓嗎? 美國人艾米：好的,我來看看你的公寓吧. So why has English changed over time? Actually all languages change and de velop when cultures meet and communicate with each other. At first the English sp oken in England between about AD 450 and 1150 was very different from the Engl ish spoken today. It was based more on German than the English we speak at pr esent. Then gradually between about AD 800 and 1150, English became less like German because those who ruled England spoken first Danish and later French. T hese new settlers enriched the English language and especially its vocabulary. So by the 1600’s Shakespeare was able to make use of a wider 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 b oth countries. 那么, 隨著時(shí)間的推移英語為什么發(fā)生了變化呢?實(shí)際上, 當(dāng)不同文化相互交流滲透時(shí), 所有的語言都會(huì)有所發(fā)展和變化.開始,英格蘭人在大約公元 450 年到 1150 年之間所說的 英語與我們今天所說的英語很不一樣. 當(dāng)時(shí)的英語更多的是以德語為基礎(chǔ)的, 不像我們現(xiàn)在 說的英語.后來,大約在公元 800 年至 1150 年之間,英語慢慢變得不那么像德語,因?yàn)榻y(tǒng) 治英格蘭的那些人開始是說丹麥語,后來說法語.這些新來的定居者豐富了英語語言,尤其 是豐富了英語詞匯.所以到 17 世紀(jì)初的時(shí)候,莎士比亞能夠得以使用比以往任何時(shí)候都豐 富的詞匯.1620 年一些英國定居者來到了美洲,后來到了 18 世紀(jì)的時(shí)候,一些英國人還 被帶到了澳大利亞.英語也就開始在這兩個(gè)國家使用. Finally by the 19th century the language was settled. At that time two big cha nges in English spelling happened: first Samuel Johnson wrote his dictionary and l ater Noah Webster wrote The American Dictionary of the English Language. The la tter gave a separate identity to American English spelling. 最后到 19 世紀(jì)的時(shí)候,英語這種語言就變得穩(wěn)定了.當(dāng)時(shí),英語的拼寫發(fā)生了兩個(gè)很 大的變化：先是塞繆爾?約翰遜編寫了他的英語詞典,后是諾亞?韋伯斯特出版了《美國英 語詞典》.后者使得美式英語的拼寫有了其獨(dú)特的個(gè)性. English now is also spoken as a foreign or second language in South Asia. F or example, India has a very large number of fluent English speakers because Brit ain ruled India from 1765 to 1947. During that time English became the language f or government and education. English is also spoken in Singapore and Malaysia a nd countries in Africa such as South Africa. Today the number of people learning English in China is increasing rapidly. In fact, China may have the largest number of English learners. Will Chinese English develop its own identity? Only time will tel l. 現(xiàn)在英語在南亞地區(qū)也被作為外語或第二語言使用. 比如, 印度就有很多人說英語說得 很流利,因?yàn)樵?1765 年到 1947 年之間英國統(tǒng)治著印度.在此期間,英語成了印度政府和 教育所用的語言.在新加坡和馬來西亞以及像非洲的南非,人們現(xiàn)在也說英語.當(dāng)今,在中 國學(xué)英語的人數(shù)正在快速增加,事實(shí)上,中國可能是學(xué)英語人數(shù)最多的國家.中國式英語是 否也能發(fā)展成一種具有自己獨(dú)特個(gè)性的語言?這還有待時(shí)間去證明.