In the fifth century AD, two tribes from Germany—the Angles and Saxons—invaded Britain. The country they built was soon named after them: “England” means “land of the Angles.” Soon, their language ceased to be considered German, and became “English”—the language of the Angles. Since that time, the English language has changed quite a bit, and most English speakers today would not be able to understand the English spoken by the Angles 1,500 years ago.
The main way the English language has changed is by borrowing words from other languages. In many ways, this started in 1066 AD, when England was invaded by the French-speaking Normans. French is based on Latin, not German. As a result, many new words with a Latin origin were introduced into English.
Today, some of these new words exist side-by-side with the older words but with slightly different meanings. For example, the word “pig” from Old English refers to the animal, but the word “pork,” from French, refers to the meat. Some words mean exactly the same thing, but are used differently. For example, we tend to use “stop,” from Old English, more often in spoken English, while we use “finish,”from French, more often in writing.
English didn’t just borrow words from French. Many words have been borrowed directly from Latin, especially to talk about law, theater, and the arts. These include words such as “media” and “campus.” In the fields of medicine, science, and technology, English borrowed heavily from Greek, which is why English has words such as “biology” and “telephone.”
In fact, English has borrowed words from nearly every language on earth, including Chinese. For example, in English people talk about eating “chow,” meaning “food.” This word, which is often used in spoken English but almost never in written English, comes from the Chinese word “chao,” which means “to stir-fry.”
Questions:
1. What is the passage mainly about?
2. What is the main way the English language has changed?
3. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
评论(0)