必修一-unit2-The-road-to-modern-English-课文原文

TheroadtomodernEnglishAttheendof16thcentury,aboutfivetosevenmillionpeoplespokeEnglish.NearlyallofthemlivedinEngland.Laterinthenextcentury,peoplefromEnglandmadevoyagestoconquerotherpartsoftheworldandbecauseofthat,Englishbegantobespokeninmanyothercountries.Today,morepeoplespeakEnglishastheirfirst,secondoraforeignlanguagethaneverbefore.NativeEnglishspeakerscanunderstandeachothereveniftheydon’tspeakthesamekindofEnglish.Lookatthisexample:BritishBetty:Wouldyouliketoseemyflat?AmericanAmy:Yes,I’dliketocomeuptoyourapartment.SowhyhasEnglishchangedovertime?Actuallyalllanguageschangeanddevelopwhenculturesmeetandcommunicatewitheachother.Atfirst,theEnglishspokeninEnglandbetweenaboutAD450and1150wasverydifferentfromtheEnglishspokentoday.ItwasbasedmoreonGermanthantheEnglishwespeakatpresent.ThengraduallybetweenaboutAD800and1150,EnglishbecamelesslikeGermanbecausethosewhoruledEnglandspokefirstDanishandlaterFrench.ThesenewsettlersenrichedtheEnglishlanguageandespeciallyitsvocabulary.Sobythe1600’sShakespearewasabletomakeuseofawidervocabularythaneverbefore.In1620,someBritishssettlersmovedtoAmerica.Laterinthe18thcenturysomeBritishpeopleweretakentoAustraliatoo.Englishbegantobespokeninbothcountries.Finallybythe19thecentury,thelanguagewassettled.AtthattimetwobigchangesinEnglishspellinghappened:firstSamuelJohnsonwrotehisdictionaryandlaterNoahWebsterwroteTheAmericanDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage.ThelattergaveaseparateidentitytoAmericanEnglishspelling.EnglishnowisalsospokenasaforeignorsecondlanguageinSouthAsia.Forexample,IndiahasaverylargenumberoffluentEnglishspeakersbecauseBritainruledIndiafrom1765to1947.DuringthattimeEnglishbecamethelanguageforgovernmentandeducation.EnglishisalsospokeninSingaporeandMalaysiaandcountriesinAfrica,suchasSouthAfrica.TodaythenumberofpeoplelearningEnglishinChinaisincreasinglyrapidly.Infact,ChinamayhavethelargestnumberofEnglishlearners.WillChineseEnglishdevelopitsownidentity?Onlytimewilltell.