the Road to Modern English.doc

the Road to Modern EnglishAt the end of the 16th century, about five to seven million people spoke English. Nearly all of them lived in England. Later in the next century, people from England 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 a foreign language than ever before.Native English speakers can understand each other even if they dont speak the same kind of English. Look at this example:British Betty: Would you like to see my flat?American Amy: Yes. Id like to come up to you apartment.So why has English changed over time? Actually all languages change and develop when cultures meet and communicate with each other. At fist the English spoken in England between about AD 450 and 1150 was very different from the English spoken today. It was base more on German than the English we speak at present. Then gradually between about AD 800 and 1150, English became less like German because those who ruled England spoke first Danish and later French. These new settlers enriched the English language and especially its vocabulary. So by the 1600s 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 both countries.Finally by the 19th century the language was settled. 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 separate identity 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 fluent English speakers because Britain ruled India from 1765 to 1947. During that time English became the language for government 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 increasing rapidly. In fact, China may have the largest number of English learners. Will Chinese English develop its own identity? Only time will tell.通向現(xiàn)代英語(yǔ)之路16世紀(jì)末期大約有5百萬(wàn)至7百萬(wàn)人說(shuō)英語(yǔ)，幾乎所有這些人都生活在英國(guó)。后來(lái)，在17世紀(jì)英國(guó)人開始航海征服了世界其它地區(qū)。于是，許多別的國(guó)家開始說(shuō)英語(yǔ)了。如今說(shuō)英語(yǔ)的人比以往任何時(shí)候都多，他們有的是作為第一語(yǔ)言來(lái)說(shuō)，有的是作為第二語(yǔ)言或外語(yǔ)。以英語(yǔ)作為母語(yǔ)的人，即使他們所講的語(yǔ)言不盡相同，也可以互相交流。請(qǐng)看以下例子：英國(guó)人貝蒂：“請(qǐng)到我的公寓（flat）里來(lái)看看，好嗎？”美國(guó)人艾米：“好的。我很樂(lè)意到你的公寓（apartment）去?！蹦敲?，英語(yǔ)在一段時(shí)間里為什么會(huì)起變化呢？事實(shí)上，當(dāng)不同文化互相交流滲透時(shí)，所有的語(yǔ)言都會(huì)有所發(fā)展、有所變化。首先，在公元450年到1150年間，人們所說(shuō)的英語(yǔ)跟今天所說(shuō)的英語(yǔ)就很不一樣。當(dāng)時(shí)的英語(yǔ)更多地是以德語(yǔ)為基礎(chǔ)的，而現(xiàn)代英語(yǔ)不是。然后，漸漸地，大約在公元800年到1150年期間，英語(yǔ)不那么象德語(yǔ)了，因?yàn)槟菚r(shí)的英國(guó)的統(tǒng)治者起初講丹麥語(yǔ)后來(lái)講法語(yǔ)。這些新的定居者大大豐富了英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)言。在1620年，一些英國(guó)人搬遷到美洲定居。后來(lái)，到了18世紀(jì)，有些英國(guó)人也被送往澳大利亞，兩個(gè)國(guó)家的人都開始說(shuō)英語(yǔ)了。最后，到19世紀(jì)，英語(yǔ)才真正定形。那時(shí)，英語(yǔ)在拼寫上發(fā)生了兩大變化：首先塞繆爾約翰遜編寫了詞典，后來(lái)，諾尼韋伯斯特編纂了美國(guó)英語(yǔ)詞典，后者體現(xiàn)了美國(guó)英語(yǔ)拼寫的不同特色?，F(xiàn)在，英語(yǔ)在南亞也被當(dāng)作外語(yǔ)或第二語(yǔ)言。比如說(shuō)，印度擁